Congress dimension

Lanzarote Convention

Save the Children
Finland's hotline service
received over 2,000 reports of
child sexual abuse images
in 2010

01.04.2011 -
In 2010, Save the Children Finland received 2,324
reports via an internet hotline (in Finnish "Nettivihje")
created by its Safer Internet programme, where
Internet users can report illegal material they find on
the Internet.

The most alarming factor in the cases reviewed by the
Finnish hotline is the increasing number of sexually
abused young children below school age.

Most of the material that is available online is made
using web cameras: the child can be asked to take off
his or her shirt, and the viewer might ask to view more.
Then the picture or video is taken and shared on the
Internet.

Approximately 30% of the web pages that were indicated
via these forms, contained illegal material illustrating
child sexual abuse. And 7% of these websites contained
material where children were portrayed in sexually
suggestive poses. Almost all of the illegal web pages
were hosted abroad, outside from Finland, and they
distributed images or videos of children victims of
sexual abuse.

The hotline service of Save the Children Finland
report all the web pages containing images depicting
sexual crimes against children to the INHOPE (the
Internet Association of Internet Hotlines) member
Hotline of the country where the website is hosted. The
Finnish hotline also reports all websites that include
illegal content to the National Bureau of Investigation
in Finland.

The hotline service makes it possible to report in an
anonymous way, via an online form, websites containing
child abuse images or videos, and other illegal material.

INHOPE coordinates the Hotline-network around the
world and it aims to trace and take down illegal
content. The network of INHOPE has currently 39 member
hotlines in 34 countries worldwide that are working
together to fight child sexual abuse images on the
Internet.

The goal is to remove illegal material as quickly as
possible according to the legislation of the country, by
passing the information gathered to the country's
authorities.

This is of fundamental importance, given that as long as
the images are available on the Internet, they can be
used for sexual purposes, distributed again, copied and
saved. The illegal material available online seriously
violates the right for privacy, honour, and dignity of
the child abuse victims.